Ealing B avoid the drop
: Created:12 May 2010 , by Alastair JohnstoneI am reliably (I hope) informed that Ealing B have narrowly avoided a rapid return to Div.3 of the Thames Valley League.
After the heavy defeat at Harrow, in the final match of the season, I left with heavy heart believing the maths were against our chances of survival. Happily, my calculations were based on false intelligence regarding one of the other critical outstanding matches and it transpired that along with Hounslow A, Surbiton B were already condemned to the drop.
Congratulations to all the squad! It has certainly been a challenging campaign. We were dangerously slow out of the blocks with onyl one win - a noble victory at Wimbldon B - and two draws from our first nine matches. We had also developed a dangerous habit of losing at home.
The turning point was undoubtedly the win over fellow strugglers Hounslow in a heart-stopping match which could very easily have gone the other way. Further wins over Wimbledon C and Surbiton B gave us three points from the final five fixtures to pull us just clear of trouble.
Next season promises to be another testing challenge. We may have replaced Harrow A with Harrow B and Hounslow A with Staines B, but it looks like Richmond B will be joined by Kingston A in being relegated from Div.1!
Still, these challenges can await the Autumn, when battle will be rejoined. For now, we can breathe one long communal sigh of relief that we found our form just in time to meet the mark for the season now ended.